The Hebdomon (τὸ Ἕβδομον, “Septimum”) was a suburb of Constantinople, situated on the Egnatian Road, at the distance of seven miles from the centre of the city. It obtained its name, as so many villages and towns on the great Roman highways did, [1184] from the number of the milestone beside which it stood (ἐν τῷ Ἑβδόμῳ Μιλίῳ), and holds a noteworthy place in history on account of its military associations and its connection with the Court of Constantinople. Considerable interest attaches to it also on account of the discussions which the question of its site has occasioned.
There can be no doubt that the Hebdomon is represented by the modern village of Makrikeui, situated on the shore of the Sea of Marmora, three miles to the west of the Golden Gate. But the opinion which has been generally accepted, and has had the greatest names in its favour, is that the suburb stood at the northern extremity of the Theodosian Walls, where the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus and the quarter of Blachernæ were found.
Map of the Territory Between the City and the Hebdomon.
Map of the Territory Between the City and the Hebdomon.
Now, of all the mistakes committed by students of the topography of Byzantine Constantinople, none is so preposterous or inexcusable as this identification. It is a mistake made when to err seems impossible, for it is in direct opposition to the plainest and most convincing evidence that the famous suburb was situated elsewhere. A blind man, Valesius exclaims in his indignation at such a baseless opinion, might see the truth in the matter.
The blunder started with Gyllius, and was afterwards supported with all the immense learning of Du Cange. It was soon denounced by Valesius, [1185] and shown to be utterly inconsistent with the most obvious facts in the case; but the reputation of the great authorities upon its side gave it a vitality which made it the commonly received opinion until the most recent times. Unger, however, contested the error, once more, in his important work entitled Quellen der Byzantinischen Kunstgeschichte, [1186] published in 1878, and maintained the correct view, but without discussing the question at length. Schlumberger, also, in his monograph on the Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, has seen the facts in their true light. [1187]
Under these circumstances one is strongly tempted to let the fallacies with which Gyllius and Du Cange maintained their views pass into oblivion, and to be satisfied with proving the truth on the subject. But the great authority and eminent services of these students of the topography of the city, and the tenacity with which the error they countenanced has held the field demand some account of the arguments which have been employed in support of an untenable position.
Gyllius [1188] entered upon the discussion of the subject with the fixed idea that no locality entitled to be regarded as a suburb could be seven miles distant from the city to which it belonged. With this conviction rooted in his mind, he found himself called to interpret the passage in which Sozomon relates how Theodosius the Great, upon leaving Constantinople for Italy to suppress the rebel Eugenius, stopped at the seventh mile from the city to invoke the Divine blessing upon the expedition, in the Church of St. John the Baptist which the emperor had erected at that point of the road. [1189] Gyllius knew his Greek too well not to recognize the obvious meaning of this statement. He acknowledges that the passage may be understood to intimate that the church above mentioned stood at the seventh milestone from Constantinople. But while allowing that this is a possible meaning of the historian’s words, he contends that it cannot be his actual meaning, because the Hebdomon, being a suburb, could not be so distant from the city as seven miles. Hence Gyllius separates the numeral adjective “seventh” from the noun “mile,” and treating the former as a proper name, construes the passage to signify that the Church of St. John the Baptist, in the suburb of the Hebdomon, was one mile from the capital. The proposed construction is so original that it must be given in its author’s own words: “Theodosius egressus unum milliare extra Constantinopolim, in æde Divi Joannis Baptistæ, quam ipse construxerat in Hebdomo suburbio, a Deo precatus est.”
Under the guidance of this strange interpretation of Sozomon’s statement, the indefatigable explorer of the ancient sites of Constantinople set himself to discover the precise locality which the Hebdomon had occupied. As the suburb was in existence before the erection of the Theodosian Walls, the specified distance of one mile had to be measured from the original limits of the city, viz. from the Wall of Constantine. This, Gyllius thought, would put the suburb somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Walls of Theodosius. Searching next for more definite indications, he found the ruins of a splendid church dedicated to St. John the Baptist on the Sixth Hill, at Bogdan Serai near Kesmè Kaya. But a church of St. John the Baptist, as already intimated, adorned the Hebdomon, and so Gyllius leaped to the conclusion that the Hebdomon was the district on the Sixth Hill: “Suburbium Hebdomon appellatum in sexto colle fuisse, qui nunc est intra urbem, ostendit ædes Divi Joannis Baptistæ, quam etiam nunc Græci vulgo vocant Prodromi.”
Having adopted this conclusion, it only remained for Gyllius to explain how a suburb only one mile from the city could have been styled the Hebdomon. His explanation is that the extramural territory along the Wall of Constantine had been occupied, before its enclosure within the Theodosian lines, by a series of suburbs distinguished from one another by numerals, and that the Hebdomon was so named because it was the seventh suburb in the series. This explanation he supports by pointing to the undoubted fact that one portion of that territory is frequently named the Deuteron [1190] by Byzantine writers. And he might have added that other portions of the territory were, respectively, styled the Triton [1191] and the Pempton. [1192]
Du Cange [1193] was unable to accept Gyllius’s interpretation of the phrase, Ἑβδόμῳ Μιλίῳ. He insists upon its correct and only signification; and admits that the suburb derived its name from its situation near the seventh milestone from the capital. Nevertheless he is, impossible though it may seem, in substantial agreement with Gyllius.
The fundamental thesis of Du Cange on the subject is that the term “Hebdomon” had two meanings. Strictly speaking, he grants, it meant the seventh mile; but it was also employed, he maintains, as the designation of the whole district extending between the Wall of Constantine and the seventh milestone. Hence, after the erection of the Theodosian Walls, a considerable portion of the suburb was included within the new city limits, so that the Hebdomon could very well be where Gyllius supposed it stood.
Only, while supporting Gyllius on this point, Du Cange considers that the identification of the Church of St. John at Kesmè Kaya with the Church of St. John the Baptist at the Hebdomon is a mistake. For the latter is described by Constantine Porphyrogenitus [1194] as without the city walls in the tenth century, and therefore never stood, like the Church of St. John at Kesmè Kaya, within the Theodosian lines. At the same time, Du Cange does not concede that the church of that dedication in the Hebdomon was near the seventh milestone. In harmony with his view regarding the extent of the area to which the term “Hebdomon” was applied, he holds that the church, though outside the Walls of Theodosius, was close to them. Du Cange differs from Gyllius also in laying great stress upon Tekfour Serai as an indication of the site of the Hebdomon, identifying that palace with the Palace of the Magnaura, one of the noted buildings of the suburb. [1195]
What induced Du Cange to maintain the application of the term “Hebdomon” to the whole territory extending from the seventh mile eastwards to the walls of the city was the opinion, that only thus could certain statements regarding the suburb become intelligible or credible. The statement, for instance, that the plain at the Hebdomon was “adjacent” (ἀνακείμενον) [1196] to the city implies, he thinks, that the plain of the Hebdomon was contiguous to the city; “quæ (vox) campus urbi adjacuisse situ prodit.” So does, he contends, the statement that the Avars, upon approaching to lay siege to the city, encamped “at what of the city is named the Hebdomon.” [1197] For how could an enemy besiege a city without coming close up to its walls? The consideration, however, which above everything else led Du Cange to attach a wider meaning to the term “Hebdomon” than the seventh mile, was the difficulty of believing that the great religious processions which, on the occasion of a severe earthquake, went on foot from the city to the Campus of the Hebdomon to implore Divine Mercy, walked the whole distance of seven miles on that pious errand. [1198]
Such a performance seemed to Du Cange, especially when the emperor and the patriarch took part in the procession, incredible; and since he could not imagine the people going to the Hebdomon, in the strict sense of the word, he made the Hebdomon come to the people, by extending the signification of the term.
But Du Cange forgets that the processions to which he refers were recognized to be extraordinary performances, even in the age in which they were undertaken; that they were acts of profoundest humiliation in view of a most awful danger; that they were deeds of penance, whereby men hoped to move the Almighty to spare His people. The distance of seven miles is not too great for men to walk in order to escape a terrible death.
At the same time, it is quite possible that the Campus of the Hebdomon extended some distance towards the city. The plain was not a mathematical point, and a portion of it may have been nearer the city than the seventh milestone itself was. That must be decided by the nature of the ground, not by subjective considerations. But to make the plain reach to the city walls for the reason assigned is preposterous.
This brief account of the arguments with which Gyllius and Du Cange upheld their views must suffice. For all the evidence at our command goes to prove that the suburb occupied the site of the modern village of Makrikeui.
In support of this proposition there are, first, express statements to the effect that the Hebdomon, taken as a whole, was seven miles distant from the city. That is how Theophylactus Simocatta, [1199] for instance, indicates the situation of the suburb: “It was a place seven miles from the city”—ἐν τῷ λεγομένῳ Ἑβδόμῳ (τόπος δὲ οὗτος τοῦ ἄστεος ἀπὸ σημείων ἑπτὰ). That is how Idatius, also, describes the suburb’s position, when speaking of the inauguration of Valens and of Arcadius there: “Levatus est Constantinopoli in Milliario VII.” [1200] And it is in the same terms that Marcellinus Comes refers to the suburb, when he records the fact that Honorius was created Cæsar in it: “Id est, septimo ab urbe regia milliario.” To understand such expressions as denoting the whole territory between the walls of the city and the seventh milestone is out of the question. As employed by these writers, the term “Hebdomon” or “Septimum” means a definite place, reached only when a person stood seven miles from the point whence distances from Constantinople were measured.
In the second place, not only is the Hebdomon, as a whole, described as being seven miles from the city, but the particular objects found there are similarly identified. The Church of St. John the Baptist in that suburb, Sozomon, [1201] Socrates, [1202] and John of Antioch [1203] state in express words, was seven miles from the city. The Church of St. John the Evangelist, which stood in the suburb, is declared by Socrates [1204] to have been at the same distance. Thus, also, the Campus of the Hebdomon is described by Cedrenus as “the plain in front of the city, seven miles distant.” [1205] The Imperial Tribune in that Campus was, according to Idatius and Marcellinus Comes, at the seventh mile: “In milliario septimo, in Tribunali;” “Septimo ab urbe regia milliario.” So, likewise, the palace which Justinian the Great built at the Hebdomon [1206] is described, in the subscription to several of his laws, as at the seventh mile: “Recitata septimo milliario hujus inclytæ civitatis, in Novo Consistorio Palatii Justiniani.” [1207] In all these passages the Hebdomon is defined with a precision that renders any vague and loose application of the term impossible, if language has any meaning. So much for the distance of the Hebdomon from the city.
That the Hebdomon was situated on the shore of the Sea of Marmora is placed beyond dispute by the fact that ships approaching Constantinople from the south reached the Hebdomon before arriving at the city. When, for example, Epiphanius came by ship from Cyprus to Constantinople, in 402, to attend a synod called to condemn the heresies of Origen, he landed at the Hebdomon, and celebrated divine service there in the Church of St. John the Baptist, before entering the capital. [1208] This order in the stages of the bishop’s journey implies that the suburb stood on the shore of the Sea of Marmora. Again, when the fleet of Heraclius came up from Carthage to overthrow Phocas, in 610, the latter proceeded to the Hebdomon to view the ships of the hostile expedition as they stood off the suburb, and there he remained until they advanced towards the city, when he mounted horse and hurried back to fight for his throne. [1209] Such proceedings were possible only if the suburb stood beside the Sea of Marmora. Yet again; the Saracen fleets which came against Constantinople, in 673 and 717, put into the harbour of the Hebdomon on their way to the city. On the first occasion the enemy’s vessels anchored, says Theophanes, [1210] “off Thrace, from the promontory of the Hebdomon, otherwise named Magnaura, to the promontory of the Cyclobion.” The ships of the second Saracen expedition, likewise, “anchored between the Magnaura and the Cyclobion.” There they waited for two days, and then, taking advantage of a south wind, “they sailed alongside the city,” some of them making the ports of Anthemius and Eutropius (at Kadikeui), others of them reaching the Bosporus, and dropping anchor between Galata and Klidion (Ortakeui). [1211] Manifestly, the Hebdomon lay to the west of the city, upon the Sea of Marmora.
Let one more proof of this fact suffice. When Pope Constantine visited Constantinople in 708, for the settlement of certain disputes between Eastern and Western Christendom, he came all the way by sea until he reached the Hebdomon. There the Pontiff and his retinue disembarked, and having been welcomed with distinguished honour, mounted horses which had been sent from the Imperial stables, and rode into the city in great state: “A quo loco (the island Cæa) navigantes venerunt a Septimo Milliario Constantinopolim, ubi egressus Tiberius Imperator, filius Justiniani Augusti (Justinian II.) cum Patriciis, cum clero, et populi multitudine, omnes lætantes, et diem festum agentes. Pontifex autem et ejus primates, cum sellaribus imperialibus, sellis et frenis inauratis, simul et mappulis, ingressi sunt civitatem.” [1212] On the view that the Hebdomon was situated beside the Sea of Marmora, all this is clear.
The data for determining the situation of the Hebdomon therefore are: that the suburb was seven miles from the city; that it stood beside the Sea of Marmora; that it had a harbour, on the one hand, and a plain of considerable extent, on the other.
There is little room for difference of opinion in regard to the point from which the seven miles are to be measured. That point could not have been in the Theodosian Walls, as the Hebdomon is mentioned before they were in existence. For a similar reason, it could not have been in the Wall of Constantine, seeing the Egnatian Road which led from Byzantium to Rome was marked with the seventh milestone before the foundation of Constantinople. It must, therefore, have been the point whence distances from old Byzantium were measured under the Roman domination. This being so, the choice lies between the Milion near St. Sophia, and the gate of Byzantium near the Column of Constantine. In favour of the former is the fact that it was the point from which distances from Constantinople were afterwards measured; for in all probability that usage was the continuation of the practice of the older city, any change in that respect being not only unnecessary, but exceedingly inconvenient. Still, the result will be substantially the same if the gate of Byzantium is preferred, since the Milion and that gate were at a short distance from each other. Seven miles from either point, westwards, to the Sea of Marmora will bring us to the modern suburb of Makrikeui.
Between the promontory on which that village stands and the promontory of Zeitin Bournou, to the east, is a bay which could serve as a harbour; while to the north and north-east spreads a magnificent plain. Makrikeui, therefore, satisfies all the indications regarding the site of the Hebdomon.
As a corollary from this determination of the real site of the Hebdomon there follows the determination of the real site of the Cyclobion; and thus the correction of another of the mistakes into which students of the topography of Byzantine Constantinople have fallen. The prevalent opinion on the subject, since Du Cange [1213] propounded the opinion, has been that the Cyclobion was a fortress attached to the Golden Gate. But this could not have been the case, for the Cyclobion was at the Hebdomon. It was a fortification on the eastern headland of the bay which formed the Harbour of the Hebdomon, [1214] and, therefore, stood some two miles and a half from the Golden Gate. This explains how Theophanes [1215] describes the engagements between the Greeks and the Saracens, who landed at the Hebdomon in 673, as taking place between the Golden Gate and the Cyclobion. The fortress was so closely connected with the suburb that the latter is sometimes referred to under the name of the former. The Church of St. John the Evangelist at the Hebdomon, for example, is declared by one authority [1216] to have stood in the Cyclobion: “Ad Castrum autem Rotundum, in quo est Ecclesia, miræ magnitudinis, Sancti Evangelistæ Johannis nomini dicata.” Again, whereas John of Antioch [1217] represents the fleet of Heraclius as standing off the Hebdomon, the Paschal Chronicle, [1218] on the other hand, says the fleet was seen off the Round Tower. In all probability, the Cyclobion stood at Zeitin Bournou, on the tongue of land to the east of Makrikeui. It derived its name, Κυκλόβιον, Στρογγύλον Καστέλλιον (Castrum Rotundum), from its circular form, [1219] and was a link in the chain of coast fortifications defending the approach to the city. It was repaired by Justinian the Great, who connected it by a good road with Rhegium [1220] (Kutchuk Tchekmedjè), another military post, and drew upon its garrison for troops to suppress the riot of the Nika. [1221] There Constantine Copronymus died on board the ship on which he had hoped to reach the capital from Selivria, when forced by his mortal illness to return from an expedition against the Bulgarians. [1222]
Whether the Cyclobion was the same as the “Castle of the Theodosiani at the Hebdomon,” mentioned by Theophanes, [1223] is not certain. On the whole, the fact that the two names are employed by the same historian favours the view that they designated different fortifications. The Theodosiani were a body of troops named in honour of Theodosius the Great. [1224]
What gave the Hebdomon its importance and explains its history was, primarily, its favourable situation for the establishment of a large military camp in the neighbourhood of the capital. An extensive plain, with abundance of water, and at a convenient distance from the city, furnished a magnificent camping-ground for the legions of New Rome. This, in view of the military associations of the throne, especially during the earlier period of the Empire, brought the emperors frequently to the suburb to attend great functions of State, and thus converted it also into an Imperial quarter, embellished with the palaces, churches, and monuments which spring up around a Court. To these political reasons for the prosperity of the suburb were added the natural attractions of the place—its pleasant climate, its wide prospect over the Sea of Marmora, and the excellent sport obtained in the surrounding country.
It was on the plain of the Hebdomon that Theodosius the Great joined the army which he led against the usurper Eugenius in Italy. [1225] There, the Gothic troops which Arcadius recalled from the war with Alaric took up their quarters under the command of Gainas, and there that emperor, accompanied by his minister Rufinus, held the memorable review of those troops, in the course of which Rufinus was assassinated in the Imperial tribune. [1226] It was at the Hebdomon that Gainas gathered the soldiers with which he planned to seize the capital. [1227] There Vitalianus encamped with more than sixty thousand men to besiege Constantinople in the reign of Anastasius I. [1228] Thither Phocas [1229] and Leo the Armenian [1230] brought the armies that enabled them to win the crown. And there Avars, Saracens, Bulgarians, and, doubtless, other foes halted to gaze upon the walls and towers they hoped to scale, or from which they retired baffled and broken. [1231]
The plain at the Hebdomon was used, also, for military exercises and athletic sports, and consequently appears under the name of the Campus Martius, [1232] as though to give it the prestige of the ground devoted to similar purposes on the banks of the Tiber. There recruits were drilled and trained in the use of arms, [1233] and there the popular game of polo was played. [1234]
Thither, also, on account of the wide and free space afforded by the plain the population of the city fled, on the occasion of a violent earthquake, to find a temporary abode, or to take part in public supplications for the withdrawal of the calamity. [1235] Such services were attended by the emperor and the patriarch, and it was on such an occasion that the Emperor Maurice, a particularly devout man, and the Patriarch Anatolius, proceeded from the city to the Campus, on foot. [1236] It was customary, moreover, to hold religious services at the Campus on the anniversary of a great earthquake, to avert the recurrence of the disaster, or to celebrate the fact that it had not been attended with loss of life. [1237] There, also, public executions took place, [1238] or the heads of persons executed elsewhere were set up for public gaze, as in the case of the Emperor Maurice and his five sons. [1239]
But the chief interest of the Hebdomon belongs to it on account of the many associations of the suburb with the life of the Byzantine Court. There, in the early days of the Eastern Empire, while old Roman customs prevailed and the army continued to be a great political factor, an emperor often assumed the purple, in the presence of his legions and a vast concourse of the citizens of the capital. At the suburb, also, triumphal processions sometimes commenced their march to the Golden Gate and the city. And there the emperors had a palace to which they resorted for country air, or to escape the turbulence of the Factions, or to take part in the State ceremonies performed on the adjoining Campus.
The earliest reference to the Hebdomon, though not by name, is in connection with the inauguration of Valens there, in 364, as the colleague of his brother, the Emperor Valentinian: “Valentem, in suburbanum, universorum sententiis concinentibus (nec enim audebat quisquam refragari) Augustum pronuntiavit; decoreque imperatorii cultus ornatum et tempore diademate redimitum in eodem vehiculo secum reduxit.” [1240] In commemoration of the event Valens erected a tribune, adorned with many statues, for the accommodation of the emperors when taking part in State functions on the Campus of the suburb. [1241] It was known as the Tribune of the Hebdomon (ἐν τῷ Τριβουναλίῳ Ἑβδόμου). [1242]
Triumphus Theodosii.
Triumphus Theodosii.
Valens also provided the Harbour of the Hebdomon with a quay, and showed his partiality for the suburb otherwise to such an extent that Themistius ventured to expostulate with him, and to charge him with forgetting to improve and beautify the capital. [1243]
After Valens, the following ten emperors were invested with the purple at the Hebdomon: Arcadius, [1244] by his father Theodosius the Great, who also raised Honorius to the rank of Cæsar there; [1245] Theodosius II.; [1246] Marcian; [1247] Leo the Great; [1248] Zeno; [1249] Basiliscus; [1250] Maurice; [1251] Phocas; [1252] Leo the Armenian; [1253] and Nicephorus Phocas. [1254] Doubtless the fatigue involved in celebrating the ceremony so far from the heart of the city had much to do with transferring the scene of Imperial inaugurations to the Hippodrome.
The custom of installing an emperor thus into his office was the continuation of an old Roman practice which testified to the power acquired by the army in deciding the succession to the throne. We have two accounts of the ceremonies observed on such an occasion at the Hebdomon, given at great length and with minute details by that devoted student and admirer of Byzantine Court etiquette, Constantine Porphyrogenitus. [1255] They are interesting, both as an exhibition of public life during the Later Empire, and as an illustration of the extent to which old Roman forms, and even the old Roman spirit, survived the profound changes which the Empire underwent after the capital was removed to the banks of the Bosporus.
When all interested in the event of the day had assembled, the troops present laid their standards prostrate upon the ground, to express the desolation of the State bereft of a ruler. Meanwhile, from every point of the Campus rose the sound of prayer, as the immense multitudes gathered there joined in supplications that God would approve the man who had been chosen as the new chief of the Empire. “Hear us, O God; we beseech Thee to hear us, O God. Grant Leo life; let him reign. O God, Lover of mankind, the public weal demands Leo; the army demands him; the laws wait for him; the palace awaits him. So prays the army, the Senate, the people. The world expects Leo; the army waits for him. Let Leo, our common glory, come; let Leo, our common good, reign. Hear us, O God, we beseech Thee.” At length the emperor-elect appeared, and ascended the Imperial tribune. A coronet was placed upon his head by one high military officer, an armlet upon his right arm by another. And instantly the prostrate standards were lifted high, and the air shook with acclamations: “Leo, Augustus, thou hast conquered; thou art Pius, August. God gave thee, God will guard thee. Ever conquer, worshipper of Christ. Long be thy reign. God will defend the Christian Empire.” [1256] This was the first act in the dramatic spectacle. Next came the solemn investiture of the emperor with the Imperial insignia. This took place behind a shield held before him by soldiers of the household-troops known as the Candidati, and when he had been duly robed, crowned, and armed with shield and spear, the screen was removed, and the new sovereign stood before the gaze of his subjects in all his majesty. [1257]
The dignitaries of the State now approached, in the order of their rank, and did homage to the monarch, while the crowds around made the air ring again with every acclamation that loyalty or adulation could invent. As soon as this scene terminated, the emperor addressed a brief allocation to the soldiers, through a herald; claiming to reign by the will of God and their suffrage, promising devotion to the welfare of the Empire, and a generous donative to each of his faithful companion-in-arms, announcements which were greeted with storms of applause. Then the sum of money required for the promised largess was handed over by the emperor to the officers charged with its distribution.
Upon the conclusion of this important part of the day’s proceedings, the ceremonies assumed a religious character. The emperor now repaired, on foot, to a camp-chapel, a tent of many colours, at a short distance from the Imperial tribune, and, leaving his crown without, entered to bow before the King of kings. It was a simple service conducted by ordinary priests, as the patriarch and higher clergy had left the Campus for St. Sophia. Upon issuing from the chapel, the emperor resumed his crown, and proceeded on a white charger, followed by a brilliant escort of dignitaries also on horseback, to the Church of St. John the Baptist, the principal sanctuary of the Hebdomon. This second service may be described as the Consecration of the Crown. For in this case, the crown, upon being again removed from the emperor’s head, was not left in the vestry, but was carried by a court official up to the altar, and then placed by the emperor himself on the sacred table. There it remained until the service closed, when the emperor handed it to the court official, and, having presented a rich gift to the church, returned to the vestry and assumed his diadem once more. This brought the coronation ceremonies, so far as they concerned the Hebdomon, to an end. The stream of life now poured into the city, the Imperial cortége gathering more and more pomp as it passed the Golden Gate, the Helenianæ, [1258] the Forum of Constantine, and entered St. Sophia for the supreme coronation of the emperor by the patriarch in the Great Cathedral of the capital. [1259]
Only one triumphal procession, that of Basil I., [1260] is expressly described as starting from the Hebdomon, but the suburb was in all probability [1261] the starting-point also of the processions which celebrated the victories of Theodosius the Great, Heraclius, Constantine Copronymus, Zimisces, and Basil II., if not of Michael Palæologus.
On the occasion of the triumph accorded to Basil I., the Senate and a vast crowd, representing all classes of the population, and carrying wreaths of roses and other flowers, went forth from the city to the Hebdomon to welcome the conqueror, who had crossed to the suburb from the palace at Hiereia (Fener Bagtchè). After the customary salutations had been exchanged, the emperor proceeded to the Church of St. John the Baptist to pray and light tapers at that venerated shrine. Then having put on his “scaramangion triblation,” he and his son Constantine mounted horse and took the road towards the Golden Gate, the Senate and people leading the way, with banners waving in the air. A short halt was made at the monastery of the Abramiti (τῶν Ἀβραμιτῶν), which stood between the suburb and the gate, that Basil might offer his devotions in the Church of the Theotokos Acheiropoietos (Ἀχειροποίητος), and then the procession resumed its march, and entered through the Golden Gate into the jubilant capital. [1262]
Trivmphvs Heraclii.
Trivmphvs Heraclii.
The first writer who mentions the Hebdomon by name refers to it as an Imperial country retreat which the emperors gladly frequented. From the connection in which Rufinus [1263] makes this statement, it is evident that a palace stood at the Hebdomon before the reign of Theodosius the Great. That residence was either rebuilt or enlarged in the reign of Justinian the Great, when mention is made of “the New Consistorium of the Palace of Justinian, at the seventh mile from this renowned city.” [1264] How agreeable a retreat the palace was may be inferred from the name bestowed upon it—the Pleasance, Jucundianæ (Ἰουκουνδιαναὶ). [1265]
In front of the palace rose the statue of Justinian, on a porphyry column brought for the purpose from the Forum of Constantine, where it had borne the silver statue of Theodosius I. [1266] Justinian showed his partiality for the suburb, moreover, by the erection of porticoes, fora, baths, churches, all built in a style worthy of the capital itself, and by having the Harbour of the Hebdomon dredged and provided with jetties for the better accommodation and safety of the shipping frequenting the coast. [1267]
In the seventh and eighth centuries the palace of the Hebdomon appears under the name of Magnaura; [1268] but whether it was the old residence under a different designation, or a new building added to the Imperial quarters, in the style of the Hall of the Magnaura in the Great Palace beside the Hippodrome, [1269] it is impossible to say.
It was to the palace of the Hebdomon, probably, that Pulcheria retired from the Court of her brother Theodosius II., while the influence of the Empress Eudoxia had the ascendency. [1270] Basiliscus withdrew to it from the storm of theological hatred which his opposition to the creed of Chalcedon had excited in the capital, and thither the pillar-saint of Anaplus (Arnaoutkeui), Daniel Stylites, went to rebuke him and foretell the loss of the throne which had been usurped and dishonoured. [1271] As already intimated, it was a favourite resort of Justinian the Great, [1272] and several of his laws were promulgated during his residence there. On the occasion of one of his visits, the Imperial crown mysteriously disappeared and was not heard of again for eight months, when it as strangely reappeared, without a single gem missing. [1273] The palace was occupied also by Justin II. [1274] and Tiberius II., the latter dying in it. [1275]
The Hebdomon enjoyed, moreover, a great religious reputation on account of its numerous churches. The oldest sanctuary of the suburb was the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist, [1276] which appears first in the reign of Arcadius, [1277] but claimed to be a foundation of Constantine the Great. It is described by the Legates of Hadrian II., after its restoration under Basil I., [1278] as remarkable for its size, “miræ magnitudinis,” [1279] and continued to be a venerated shrine as late as the Comnenian period, [1280] after which it was allowed to fall into decay. Basil II. was interred in it, according to his dying request, [1281] and his grave was discovered among the ruins of the church in the thirteenth century, while Michael Palæologus was engaged in the siege of Galata, in 1260. Some members of the Imperial household, in the course of their exploration of the surrounding country, then visited the Hebdomon, and found the church of St. John the Evangelist turned into a fold for sheep and cattle. As the visitors wandered among the ruins, admiring the traces of the building’s former beauty, they stumbled upon the dead body of a man. It was naked, but well preserved, and in its mouth a vulgar jester had placed a shepherd’s lute by way of derision. As the corpse lay near a sarcophagus upon which was inscribed an epitaph in honour of Basil II., no doubt could be entertained regarding the identity of the body. When the discovery was reported to Michael Palæologus, he commanded the mortal remains of his predecessor to be conveyed in great state to the camp before Galata, to receive once more a tribute of respect, and then sent them with solemn ceremonial to Selivria, [1282] for interment in the monastery of St. Saviour.
Another of the sanctuaries at the Hebdomon was the church erected, in 407, by the Emperor Arcadius to enshrine the reputed remains of the Prophet Samuel. [1283] Such importance was attached to these relics that their conveyance from Palestine to Constantinople, by way of Asia Minor, resembled an Imperial progress through the country. One might have supposed the prophet himself was moving through the land, so great was the interest and devotion displayed by the population along the route. [1284] Nor were the relics less honoured upon their arrival at the capital. The emperor and the highest dignitaries of Church and State did homage to them at the Scala Chalcedonensis and carried them in procession to the Church of St. Sophia, where the sacred remains rested until the church built for them at the Hebdomon was completed. [1285] The church fell in the earthquake which shook the city in the thirty-first year of the reign of Justinian the Great. [1286]
But the most venerated church in the suburb was that dedicated to St. John the Baptist (τὸ μαρτύριον τοῦ Βαπτιστοῦ Ἰωάννου), [1287] a domical edifice, built by Theodosius the Great [1288] for the reception of the head, it was supposed, of the heroic Forerunner of Christ. The Emperor Valens had already sought to obtain the relic. But its possessors, certain monks of the sect of Macedonius, who had taken it with them from Jerusalem to Cilicia, refused to surrender the treasure, and all that Valens succeeded in doing was to bring it as near to Constantinople as Panticheion (Pendik), on the opposite shore of the Sea of Marmora. There, the mules which drew the car conveying the relic refused to proceed any further, and at that village, accordingly, in obedience to what appeared to be an indication of the Divine will, the sacred head was allowed to remain. When Theodosius the Great endeavoured to acquire the relic, its custodians, a woman Matrona and a priest Vicentius, did everything in their power to prevent the execution of the emperor’s design. But the pressure to make them yield was such that at last they gave their reluctant consent. In doing so, however, Matrona cherished the secret belief that Theodosius would be hindered, like Valens, from carrying out his purpose; while Vicentius laid down a condition which he thought could never be fulfilled, viz. that the emperor in removing the head should walk after the Baptist. Theodosius saw no difficulty in the condition. He reverently wrapped the reliquary in his Imperial mantle and, holding the sacred contents in front of him, took them to the Church of St. John the Evangelist at the Hebdomon, and commenced the erection of a church consecrated to the Forerunner’s name as their final shrine. This won Vicentius over to the emperor’s side, and he followed the head to the Hebdomon. But Matrona, with a true woman’s intensity of feeling, maintained her protest, and would never come near the suburb which had disappointed her faith, and purloined her treasure. [1289]
It was the possession of this relic that gave the church its great religious repute. This explains why, as we have seen, Theodosius the Great, [1290] Epiphanius of Cyprus, [1291] Gainas, [1292] at important moments in their lives, performed their devotions there; and this accounts for the association of the church with the ceremonies attending Imperial inaugurations and triumphs. [1293]
In the course of its history the church was twice restored on a magnificent scale; first by Justinian the Great, [1294] and again by Basil I. [1295]
Other churches of less note at the Hebdomon were respectively dedicated to St. Theodotè (τὸ Θεδότης ἁγίας τέμενος); [1296] SS. Menas and Menaius (Μηνᾶς καὶ Μηναίος); [1297] SS. Benjamin and Berius (Ἁγίων Βενιαμὶν καὶ Βηρίου); [1298] and the Holy Innocents (τῶν Νηπίων). [1299] The first two sanctuaries owed their foundation to Justinian the Great, who did so much for the suburb in other ways; at the last church, the Senate welcomed an emperor upon his return to the capital by land, from the West.
Finally, in days when travellers made the first and last stages of a journey short, the Hebdomon enjoyed considerable importance as a halting-place for persons leaving or approaching Constantinople; its proximity to the city rendering it a caravansary, where a traveller could conveniently make his final arrangements to start on his way, or to enter the capital in a suitable manner. The suburb served that purpose, even in the case of the emperors. [1300]
Instances of this use of the suburb, by Theodosius the Great, Epiphanius, and Pope Constantine, have already been noticed, when referring to other matters connected with the Hebdomon. There also the Legates of Pope Hormisdas, in 515, [1301] and the Legates of Pope Hadrian II., in 869, [1302] rested before entering the city. There the Emperor Maurice halted, upon leaving Constantinople, to join the expedition against the Avars; [1303] and there Peter, King of Bulgaria, stopped on his return home, in 927, with the Princess Maria, the granddaughter of the Emperor Romanus Lecapenus, as his bride. [1304]
On the last occasion, as relatives and friends, doubtless, often did under similar circumstances, the parents of the princess accompanied her as far as the suburb to take leave of her there. The historian has left a vivid picture of the scene. “When the moment for their daughter’s departure approached, father and mother burst into tears, as is natural for parents about to part with the dearest pledge of their love. Then having embraced their son-in-law, and entrusted their child to his care, they returned to the Imperial city. Maria proceeded on her journey to Bulgaria in the king’s charge, with mingled feelings of grief and joy—sad, because carried away from beloved parents, Imperial palaces, and the society of her relations and friends; happy, because her husband was a king, and she was the Despina of Bulgaria. She took with her much wealth, and an immense quantity of baggage.”
In keeping with such practices, when the Icon of St. Demetrius was transported from Thessalonica to Constantinople, in the reign of Manuel Comnenus, to be placed in the Church of the Pantocrator (now Zeirek Klissè Djamissi, above Oun Kapan Kapoussi), members of the Senate and a vast multitude of priests, monks, and laymen, went seven miles from the capital to receive the sacred picture and escort it with great pomp to its destination. [1305]